Sunset Boulevard, Directed By Billy Wilder: Film Analysis

In Our Town, Thornton Wilder arranges an empty stage to portray life in Grover’s Corner as a stereotypical American town, and he seeks to enlighten his audience on a more relevant aspect of the seemingly boring village in this way. Wilder puts emphasis in displaying an altogether normal community through the narration of the stage manager and the stage presentation to provide viewers with an understanding of the emotional complexity of a human’s life. For instance, in the beginning of act one, he sets a literal stage as an introduction into the setting of the story: “No curtain. No scenery. The audience, arriving, sees an empty stage in half-light.

The film follows a flashback narrative of Al Roberts first-hand recollection of two deaths that led to his arrest. In the film, there is significant evidence of the influence from German Expressionism, French poetic realism, and the cultural shifts caused by the Great Depression and World War II. The lighting displayed throughout the film mirrored the theatrical lighting techniques used in German Expressionist films. Detour was

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the female narrator is greatly troubled by the suppression of her imagination by her husband and her ultimate isolation due to this subordination. These feelings are reflected through the author’s use of setting as the narrator’s dreary and malicious descriptions of the house and the wallpaper mirrors her emotional position. Throughout the reading, the reader is exposed to the narrator’s in-depth loss of touch with reality as she sinks further and further into her own reality. As she becomes more isolated, her descriptions of the house become more abstract as she begins to focus on the wallpaper and starts to see herself as being hidden behind it.

The crime scene at the beginning of the film, for example, used a low angle view to show the body floating from underwater. Low key lighting is often represented when scenes are shot inside Norma’s home. The interior shots are also tightly framed shots with extreme camera angles it gives off a depressed, claustrophobic environment. In the exterior shot, the scenes are in high key lighting and use realistic lighting to give off a lively atmosphere that Joe does not experience while inside the home.

In Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950), the space of mise-en-scene is used to ‘guide the audience 's attention across the screen, shaping the sense of the space that is represented and emphasising certain parts of it ' (Bordwell 2001, p.176). For instance, when Joe Gillis is escaping the repo men at the beginning of the clip, the main focus is the speeding cars coming from the background to the foreground of the shot. Another notable scene is when Norma Desmond 's character lifts the rug and the chimpanzee 's arm flings out and swings back and forth, it instantly captures the audience 's attention. This is done because ‘moving items draw the audience 's attention more quickly than a static item does ' (Bordwell 2001, p.176). This method of presenting action corresponds with the structure of classical Hollywood as it was ‘designed for on-screen events to

In the film Sunset Boulevard many characters struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in Hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.

To represent this low key lighting is used in Charlie’s home to show that the reality of his life is there living in poverty. This pattern continues in the cult classic Edward Scissorhands. The town that Edward is welcomed into is in high lighting to signify that it is the life that he never had. He wants to be accepted and loved and this is the place that his wish comes true. Unfortunately we know that his fantasy is unrealistic and there is no way he can live normally.

The lighting in Donnie Darko movie is a key component of composition which creates our sense of illuminating for people and things. This movie uses two sources of lighting; natural light, such as daylight, when the scene is in an outdoor area for example, walking from school, at home, waiting at bus stop, or playing outside of the school on sunny days. Another source of light is artificial spotlight which is used in the movie indoors to cut and shape the light at the dining table, in the classroom or in the psychotherapist's house. Also, distinct shadows are used as an essentially smooth surface that reflects hard light in the Halloween party to feature deep shadows and scary areas in function of the plot. Three-points of lighting create ominous shadows in the horror genre for all the actors at Donnie and Elizabeth's Halloween party with lighting from below the cast to create monstrous objects in real life.

The colors and lighting are very unchanging much like the town Endora. The only exception is when there are strong emotions within the film. There is a warm glow of lighting by the sunlight or fire whenever there is a time of love, be it brotherly or in a romantic way. During the melancholy times of the story, the lighting is either dim when it relates to death, but when a character is feels lost in their emotions the director

These different lighting techniques are applied in the movie to help set the tone and mood for the film scene. The

The use of background light was an important focus in this picture, there was less attention to lighting the actors faces but in almost every frame there is well placed background light often combined with a moving light source. Repetition was also evident within the visual composition of the frame, the actors were rarely positioned within the center of the frame but always to the left or the right with a light source covering them from behind. Ridley Scott perfectly matches colorful high key light with low key lights creating impeccable contrast, this lighting used could be described as a modern Citizen Kane style. Although this is overall a very dark and low light film, the motif of shadows and darkness allows the beauty of light to truly be

This creates a contrast with the darker and lighter parts of the scene, and creates the subject of the scene to be hidden in the shadows. This lighting technique is perfect for a gangster film such as the Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola’s has made apt use of lighting in this scene. In this scene, almost all the frames are low lit, especially the scenes where Don Corleone’s eyes are darkened.

In the movie, Edward Scissorhands, Tim burton uses low-key lighting when Peg meets Edward for the first time in a castle. Edward was sitting in a dark corner and there was just enough light to see his face but not his clothes. This shows the amount of loneliness of Edward and that he was sad and frightened but also willing to make a friend when he approaches Peg. Also, in the movie, Charlie in the

Lighting is used rather traditionally for the majority of the movie and helps to distinguish the “good” from the “bad”. For instance, the original Maria is shown in soft-key, angelic lighting that casts a halo around her to emphasize her purity and beauty. The fake Maria, on the other hand, is shot in harsh lighting that creates a dark, unsettling vignette around her. This lighting style creates a contrast between protagonists and antagonists and is used frequently in Hollywood cinema.

Tim Burton 's use of this helps show the contrast of the insider and outsider world. When the viewer is watching they get a sense of suspense and start to second guess whether or not they should trust the outsider. In Edward Scissorhands Burton uses a high-key low-key light contrast when Peg is in her car and sees Edward 's house in her side mirror. When the viewers are watching they get a frightened sense and wonder whether or not Edward or whomever is in the house will